0:05
the height of the building is going to
0:07
ruin their view from the other side of
0:08
the river what do you say to those
0:10
people i' i' get them to go knock on
0:12
someone's door and see speak to the
0:13
actual people affected by this this
0:15
building which was built in the 80s um
0:24
purpose if you live in London spend a
0:27
third of your income renting a pokey
0:28
flat and are expecting to spend the next
0:30
30 years of your life saving for a
0:31
deposit by a place of your own you've
0:33
probably wondered why can't we just
0:35
build more bloody houses the incredibly
0:38
high cost of housing in London is a pure
0:40
supply and demand problem over the last
0:42
25 years the population of the capital
0:44
has grown by 29% while housing stock has
0:46
only grown by 23% and given that the
0:49
capital generates around a quarter of UK
0:50
GDP London's housing shortage affects
0:53
the whole country it also just makes
0:54
lives more miserable than they need to
0:56
be the government recognizes this and
0:57
has committed to reform the planning
0:59
system to build one 1.5 million more
1:01
homes over the next 5 years but the
1:03
previous Target of 300,000 new homes a
1:05
year has never been reached and the
1:07
target for London overall has actually
1:09
been revised down so if everyone knows
1:11
that London needs more houses why are
1:13
they so hard to build a major reason for
1:15
this is a planning system that makes it
1:16
far too easy for anything from rock
1:17
stars to rare spiders to get in the way
1:19
of new development and this building
1:21
behind me is no exception this is one bu
1:24
SE Bridge it's an unlovely 1980s office
1:26
block that's no longer fit for purpose a
1:28
developer has a planning application in
1:29
to turn it into 110 new houses plus
1:32
restaurants commercial space and opening
1:34
up this Riverside 50% of those new
1:37
houses will be available for social rent
1:39
that's new homes for 190 people in an
1:41
area with a social housing waiting list
1:43
of 13,500 people the problem it's going
1:46
to be 29 stories high and this has led
1:48
to objections for people living in
1:49
Chelsea on the other side of the river
1:50
one of the most expensive places to live
1:52
in the world let alone in London who
1:54
claim that it's going to ruin their view
1:55
people like Mick Jagger Eric Clapton and
1:57
antha Turner have signed a petition
1:59
calling for this entire scheme to be
2:01
scrapped Chris warl is a labor counselor
2:04
and affordable housing campaigner I
2:05
asked him what he'd say to the rock
2:07
stars over the river who are opposing
2:08
the scheme only if they were able to do
2:10
that they might be looking at things in
2:12
a bit of a Different Light they're
2:13
coming from a very privileged position
2:15
they're rich they're wealthy and if
2:17
they're prioritizing their views over
2:18
these types of residents then I would
2:20
tell them that they need to think about
2:21
it again at the end of the day we set
2:23
these policies out for getting a public
2:26
benefit from these schemes and of course
2:28
if people going and buy their pizza or
2:29
the sour dough bread people aren't
2:31
complaining about the profit those
2:32
bakeries are making or even if it's a
2:34
car or or a pint of beers Chris is
2:37
understandably anxious to see affordable
2:38
houses delivered but of course the only
2:39
way to make a scheme like this viable is
2:41
to sell the remaining properties for
2:43
profit and in London where ground space
2:45
is constrained that means building up as
2:47
Nicholas me the developer behind the
2:49
project explained to me we've faced um a
2:52
lot of opposition um locally on both
2:55
sides of the river um to a degree that's
2:57
not unexpected what we are bringing
2:59
forward here is say it is a substantial
3:01
proposal um I think a lot of local
3:03
residents have had questions regarding
3:05
you know the proposed height of the
3:06
building which is obviously typically
3:07
quite an emotive topic um and there's
3:09
been a lot of um questions raised around
3:12
how the construction process would be
3:13
managed and post planning and how we
3:15
could mitigate disturbances in terms of
3:17
in terms of logistical um and access
3:20
into the site um that's something which
3:22
we've had to address as part of our
3:23
application and would also need to
3:25
address in further detail if we were to
3:27
secure a a resolution to Grant planning
3:29
there's 300,000 people um on on housing
3:32
list in London and over 170,000 people
3:35
in in short-term accommodation um the
3:39
national government and the local
3:42
Council have made clear that um
3:44
Brownfield sites like this are going to
3:46
be the key to optimizing housing
3:48
delivery so I suppose our message to to
3:50
those would be if housing can't be
3:52
delivered on sites like this then then
3:54
where can it 5,000 people have signed a
3:56
petition opposing the scheme calling it
3:58
vast and vulgar GR T and raising
4:00
concerns about traffic disruption during
4:02
the construction period That's Not
4:03
Unusual complaints like this typically
4:05
accompany any new development project
4:08
after all who wants to live near a
4:09
building site the difference now is that
4:11
Rachel Reeves has made planning reforms
4:13
Central to her economic agenda promising
4:15
to stop blockers get in the way of new
4:17
development so perhaps a test of how
4:18
serious she really is about growth will
4:20
be whether we see more buildings like
4:22
one baty Bridge pop up across London or
4:25
whether those residents of wesworth
4:26
still on the waiting list for housing to
4:28
paraphrase MC Jagger Can't Get No
